CNN’s Jake Tapper appeared to catch Sen.James Inhofe (R-OK) in a bit of a contradiction on Wednesday when he spoke to the likely new chair of Environment and Public Works Committee and avowed climate change denier about a new deal struck between the U.S. and China to reduce carbon emissions. Inhofe went on record saying he thinks China is getting off too easy in the deal, which led Tapper to ask, “Is that really your issue with the deal? I thought you didn’t think carbon emissions were a problem.”

Inhofe confirmed that he does not think carbon emissions are a problem, arguing that the “science has totally changed” on the issue over the last decade, as he does in his recent book, The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future. The senator proceeded to argue that “as we would reduce our [emissions] and chase our manufacturing base to China, where they have no regulations, it would have the effect of increasing, not decreasing CO2.”